


Pianissimo

by robogalaxy



Series: deadlyroses 🌹 [23]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Gentle Kissing, Hidden Talents, One Shot, Piano, Short & Sweet, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:41:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29337723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robogalaxy/pseuds/robogalaxy
Summary: The only thing her parents left her before they moved away - a glossy, white piano that sits in the corner of Oleana's living room. She hasn't touched the thing in ages, but maybe she could use the practice again.
Relationships: Olive | Oleana/Rose | Chairman Rose
Series: deadlyroses 🌹 [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162211
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Pianissimo

"And you've never touched it?" 

"I did last when I was ... eight, I think. Mum thought pretty girls should play piano, so I was taught. And by the best money could buy, of course."

* * *

Oleana hated that piano. She hated the way it loomed in the corner of her front room, unused and unopened for almost three years. White, silky, absolutely gorgeous in the lights of her high-rise, but she always wanted to take a hammer to it, smashing the keys and making a cacophony of major and minor notes as they fell to her floor. Rose, however, seemed to have taken a liking to it when he first noticed it. His eyes lit up at the glossy exterior and he ran towards it (a frustrated Oleana tagging behind). 

"Goodness, Ollie, it's gorgeous," Rose said. He sat down at the piano bench and lifted the cover off the keys. For something Oleana said she hasn't touched in years, it was weird he found no dust. "But I thought you said—"

"The COVER was on them, love," she sighed, "there was no way dust could've gotten on them. That's why they're clean." She walked away to remove her coat and hang it up, take out her earrings and put them away, and tell Rose she was going upstairs to change. 

"Oh, of course," Rose nodded, "go get comfortable! I'll be up in a minute, I promise. There's just... this really is a marvelous thing, Oleana. PLEASE let me play it." 

"Take the stage, sir," Oleana muttered sarcastically. She walked towards her bedroom (having to stop once more so Rose could kiss her hand, that romantic mess of a man...) and arrived by her bed shortly. Oleana cursed to herself and began to undress, replacing her skirt and tights with a pair of silk pajama pants. 

_That damn piano..._

She replaced her blouse with a cropped shirt, old but still as bright as the day she first bought it.

_I really thought I'd be able to get Salazzle to help me burn it... well, I thought someday, at least._

Oleana decided to calm her long hair with the quick use of a headband. Picking one up, she set it on her forehead and pushed back slowly. Suddenly, a shrill sound reached her ears, making her jump in place and hold her head to prevent an ache.

_Oh, Arceus, Antony....what does he THINK he's playing? Has he been blindfolded?_

Now almost deafened, Oleana rushed down from her room and headed straight for Rose. His eyes were closed and he was smiling; he seemed to have lost himself in the music. Oleana hoped, with her help, he could lose the music itself. A sudden grasp of Rose's hand halted the music and made him turn around in confusion. 

"Oh, darling, and I was getting to the best part of the song!" he whined. He knew he shouldn't have had any right to, though - he really _was_ just slamming on random keys. 

"I said I'd let you _play_ the piano," Oleana shook her head, "not that I would let you _torture_ the piano. My ears could start bleeding." She crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side. Understanding, Rose stood up from the piano bench and sighed. 

"Well, I don't think we'd want that. Sorry for the pain these untrained hands have caused you, my dearest." 

"I should've expected it," she smirked. She grabbed Rose and pulled him into a short kiss before letting him go and pointing upstairs, "but I also expect for you to not wear something so stuffy to sleep in. I'll wait down here." 

"Thank you," Rose smiled as he kissed Oleana's hand again and headed up towards where his clothes were kept. 

With him gone, Oleana sat herself down on the piano bench and stared the keys over. 

_Would I even still know how to do this? I mean, I don't plan on trying...it'd be proving Antony right, that this piano is worth something._

Still, something about the keys and the way her fingers laid against them felt right. Not perfect, exactly, and Oleana did make sure to peek behind her to check for Rose coming back. He wasn't, it seemed, so she could remain in peace to debate her feelings on the piano.

_I’ve always liked that one song... I've forgotten the title, but it was from some soft, acoustic album released almost a full eighteen years ago or so._

Before she knew it, she took a deep breath and placed her fingers against the keys. Without thinking and without moving an inch, her hands pressed down and sounded the first notes.

* * *

Rose yawned as he finally put away his clothes all nice and neatly, folded and hung up and, if meant to be ironed or dry-cleaned, went to a separate room for treatment of that caliber. He rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms above his head, walking out of the room to meet Oleana and bring her up with him. His footsteps were quiet, he knew, and that's why despite the way Oleana's floor could cause an echo, he could hear something soothing. It was a piano, no doubt, with rises and lifts, a song so much like a lullaby and yet powerful. Rose didn't know if those were accurate words to describe piano playing; he'd heard enough in his life, and surely by now he would know how to describe it in a mature manner. A word Rose absolutely knew described the music was elegant, and, in his eyes, so was the woman playing without a care in the world. So angry earlier about the "blight of her living room," and yet now her fingers flew across the keys so naturally. Her eyes stared into the Cs and the Bs, major key over minor key, playing what Rose found to be a very familiar tune. 

_Is this...? It may be. I think I remember the lyrics._

He waited for a place in the song that allowed him to start the lyrics from the beginning, and when Oleana had looped around back to the beginning, Rose began to sing. The starting lyrics were extremely simplistic, so he wasn't too worried about straining his voice. What did cause him strain, however, was Oleana's sudden pause in the music. She jolted up from the bench and walked away from the piano. She mumbled to herself but never tried to mask what she was doing. 

_You've been caught...you should've played something harder to remember!_

"Antony!" she gasped as she walked back to him and teasingly slapped his shoulder, "Don't frighten me like that again! I could've sic'ed Froslass on you, you know, make you freeze your arse off for all I ca—"

"How gorgeous you play, though, my darling," Rose interrupted while Oleana begrudgingly walked straight past Rose's open arms and went to sit back down on the piano bench. She hit her head onto the keys, causing a terrible racket of the middle range. 

"I thought you would be longer," Oleana admitted, "so I thought I would try to remember something. Lessons crammed down your throat from such a young age does it to you."

"Yes, understandably."

"And ... and I was bored," Oleana said with a slight laugh and an ashamed look in her eyes, "so I played the first song that came to mind. I know I've proven your point, my love, that this ... thing," she said while slamming the covers over the keys once more, "...this thing is worth keeping around." 

"I didn't know you were so well-versed. May I ask if the lovely lady of the night takes requests?" Rose said. Oleana shifted herself so Rose could sit beside her, and she wondered how she managed to tolerate this man half of the time. Was it the kindness in his eyes? The curve of his smile? The absolutely irritating way he'd palm five keys at once to make some sort of sound? 

_Not that last one...it's more entertaining than enamoring._

"Requests? I don't hold the sheet music to all possible songs in my head, love," Oleana smarted, "so if you want something specific, you're getting the papers yourself." 

"No, no, I think my request is an easy one," Rose smiled as he covertly uncovered the keys again with a simple push upwards on the cover. He wrapped an arm around her waist despite her frustration and leaned his head on her shoulder. In this moment, she was reminded she honestly, truly loved this man despite all his annoying and overly loving quirks. 

"Well, then? What is it? Mary Had A Little Mareep?" Oleana laughed, "Because I think even you could do that one."

"No," Rose shook his head, "it's a more... classic song, I'd think." He explained the song as best he could without knowing its title, his hand around Oleana's waist leaving as magnificent hand gestures swept the air. Through all of this, Oleana nodded and asked questions before clapping her hands to gain Rose's attention. 

"Well, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!" she said with a voice only laced in sarcasm, "And I don't think we will know, if your descriptions are that—"

"Accordion," Rose mumbled before his face lit up and he turned to embrace Oleana for a short second, "that's it!"

"The name of the song...?" she said quizzically.

"No, no, no," Rose explained, "a few weeks ago! I had the cab stop for you, remember? I got out and asked if you'd wanted a ride, and there was that charming Mr. Rime doing a routine to that song his trainer of his was playing. Familiar tune, yes?"

"Oh," Oleana nodded, "oh! Oh, _Arceus_ , thanks, Antony! I could've told you the title if you hadn't said it was familiar!" Her hands tried playfully to push Rose off the bench, but he had managed to grasp onto them before they could shove. He placed each hand to his lips and kissed them gently, looking up and watching as Oleana lost all playful anger, shook her head with a smirk, and closed the gap between them. His arms returned to around her waist and she held his face in her hands, letting the moment pass by without an interruption. Rose broke the kiss off and turned back to the piano keys, then looked back up to Oleana, eager for her to begin. 

"Do you know this one?" he asked, but the question was drowned out by the dulcet sounds that came from the piano. Oleana, unaware of his question in the first place, had closed her eyes and let her own hands guide her. Every now and then there was a sour note, but Rose didn't seem to mind. 

"This song has lyrics," Oleana said while she went into a faster part of the melody, missed notes all over the place but not enough to make the song unrecognizable, "so, if you'd like, my dearest, you can sing. I'd appreciate accompaniment. It _has_ been years since I've touched this thing." 

"My darling maestro," Rose mumbled as he went to place another kiss on Oleana's forehead, "I'm at your service."

Rose began to softly sing the fast-paced lyrics with a smile as Oleana continued to play as well as she could. They'd never taken themselves to be musicians, but it didn't stop them from putting on a concert of their own at 11:00pm, dressed in comfort clothes, their conversations rife with affections, and performed on the piano Oleana had begun to tolerate. 

**Author's Note:**

> the first of two valentine's fics - the other one will be posted later.  
> this is a gift for @ruivyarts on twitter as a thank you for drawing a scene from one of my fics; in return i wrote deadlyrose piano stuff bc its what she requested!! 🥺♥️ i hope you enjoyed it!! i did, it's just so 🥺♥️ soft..... 
> 
> please feel free to leave kudos, comments, and bookmarks!~ <3


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